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Transpired the manager was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over System & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and then discard him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.